The Big Questions of Public Administration in a Democracy

Abstract

What are the big questions which should concern practitioners and students of public administration? Behn recently offered three big questions of public management, involving micromanagement, motivation, and measurement. Kirlin argues that the big questions of public administration in a democracy are different from those of public management and develops four criteria by which to judge big questions. Seven big questions of public administration in a democracy are offered, concerning: tools of collective action supporting a democratic polity; appropriate roles of nongovernmental collective action; tradeoffs between designs based on function versus geography; national versus local political arenas; when decisions are isolated from politics; balance among neutral competence, representativenss, and leadership; and societal learning.